Your Favorite You
Welcome to Your Favorite You, a weekly podcast helping brilliant women like you with beautiful brains to create the life you've been dreaming of with intention so you can find your favorite version of you. Your host, Melissa Parsons, is a pediatrician turned life coach. She holds the titles of wife, mom, daughter, sister, and friend of many. She became a certified life coach after discovering that coaching held the secret to the universe, and knew she had to share this magic with everyone in her orbit. This podcast is for you if ... you're stuck in fear and perfectionism thinking that your value comes from what you do or what you don't do, rather than knowing that your value comes from who you are, and this is keeping you from dreaming and trying new things, or from remembering or doing what you used to love. Join Melissa on this journey to figuring out and remembering who you are; a journey to finding and becoming your favorite you. To learn more about Melissa, visit: https://www.melissaparsonscoaching.com/
Episodes
130 episodes
Ep 127: "Letting" Other People Feel Their Feelings with Jon Parsons, MD
When someone close to us is struggling, our instinct is often to jump in and “fix it” for them. We’ve all acted on that urge before, but true support isn’t about rushing a solution—it’s about giving them space to process without trying to steer...
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29:15
Ep 126: Reflections from My First Retreat
I just returned home from hosting my very first retreat—an unforgettable and deeply fulfilling experience. For some time now, I’ve wanted to create a space where my clients could step away from their daily routines and immerse themselves in per...
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21:22
Ep 125: Shifting from Pissed Off to Poised with Dr. Arpita DePalma
I am thrilled to have my friend and fellow pediatrician-turned-life-coach, Arpita Gupta DePalma, as a guest today. We’re taking a trip down memory lane—you’ll hear stories from the beginning of my coaching journey and what eventually drove Arpi...
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43:57
Ep 124: Impacts of Infidelity on Your Favorite You with Andrea Giles
Infidelity in a relationship brings up fears and insecurities that can have a lasting impact on your ability to be your favorite version of yourself. Since my client shared how the infidelity in her marriage affected her sense of self, I wanted...
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41:41
Ep 123: Becoming Your Own Best Friend
It is possible that you only need to change your relationship with yourself in order to enjoy your life more. Most of us go through life listening to the voices inside our heads. The problem is that some of these voices say things like “I am no...
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22:00
Ep 122: Impact of Personal Change on Relationships
Much of the work that we do in coaching revolves around relationships. Changing your relationship with yourself is the most impactful relationship we work on, but this personal growth can have a profound impact on your relationships with others...
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14:23
Ep 121: You Can Stop Pretending with Nina
Have you ever paused after someone asked, “How are you?” and wondered if you were answering honestly or just saying, “I’m fine,” out of habit? It’s instinct to pretend we feel a certain way because we think it will be easier for those around us...
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44:31
Ep 120: Takeaways from Group Coaching with Colleen, Jenn, & Kimberly
I am so lucky to be joined today by three amazing women who are here to share their transformative experiences with group coaching. In this episode, Colleen, Jenn, and Kimberly offer their insights into how working together has made an impact o...
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54:13
Ep 119: Emotional Health and Wealth with Kirsty Knight
The tendency to tie our self-worth to material wealth often causes our emotional well-being to suffer. How can we begin to discover that emotional health has a greater influence on becoming our favorite versions of ourselves than the amount of ...
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56:28
Ep 118: Fresh Starts and New Beginnings
In the spirit of having a happy and emotionally healthy 2025, I want to talk about something relevant to the dawn of a new year: Fresh starts and new beginnings. I want to remind you that each new moment in your life can be a fresh ...
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14:07
Ep 117: It's the Little Things
When we get caught up in working toward the next big thing, sometimes we forget to enjoy and be present with all the little things in life that bring us joy. As another year comes to a close, I’m dedicating this episode to sharing what ...
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13:58
Ep 116: Understanding Your Nervous System and Feeling ALL the Big Feels with Victoria Albina
Why does your body feel the way it does when you’re working through big emotions? It all has to do with your nervous system. In this episode, I am joined by Master Certified Somatic Life Coach Victoria Albina. We go over the basics of the nervo...
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50:08
Ep 115: Finding Light in the Darkness
We all face moments when it feels like the world is crumbling around us. Whether it's a personal crisis, a professional setback, or a global event that shakes our very foundation, it’s normal to feel lost and overwhelmed. We often h...
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11:59
Ep 114: Loving Your Body and Your Brain with Laura Conley
In this episode, I’m interviewed by my coaching friend, Laura Conley, who hosts the Lose Weight for the Last Time podcast. Laura and I talk about the essential practices for becoming your favorite version of you, and we go deep into wh...
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42:29
Ep 113: Tulum is Calling and We Must Go!
The transition from the holiday season to the new year can be difficult, especially when you don’t have something to look forward to. What if you could start the year by connecting with yourself and other amazing women to cultivate the mindset ...
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11:34
Ep 112: Financial Empowerment with Jack Parsons and Andrea Nameche
I'm so excited to have my son, Jack Parsons, and his incredible career mentor, Andrea Nameche, on the podcast to share their financial expertise.For years, I didn't pay much attention to my family's finances, outsourcing the job to my h...
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54:46
Ep 111: Five Lessons Learned from Amusement Parks
Life is full of unexpected twists and turns, just like a roller coaster. You never know what's coming next, and it can be pretty daunting. But if you stay on the ride, it gets less scary over time. It's all about building resilience and learnin...
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18:12
Bonus Episode: Handling Our Despair
In this bonus episode, I imperfectly share my thoughts and feel my feelings to help all of us as we attempt to figure out what to do when things fucking suck.I encourage all of you to feel your feelings today. Your feelings are not wrong...
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17:56
Ep 110: Privileges and Boundaries
Last week, I spoke about why it's important to stop forcing relationships with people who no longer want to be in relationship with you. But what if you’re on the other side of things? What if you need to withdraw your consent to be in relation...
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14:18
Ep 109: Stop Forcing Shit
When we try to force things that are not happening naturally, we end up causing ourselves pain. This tendency often stems from beliefs we have about the way things should be. It can be difficult to challenge those beliefs and stop the ...
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14:37
Ep 108: The Power of Patience
Do you feel stressed and anxious when things don’t go according to your timeline? If the answer is yes, you’re not alone. Patience is something we all struggle with, but when we cultivate patience over time, we open ourselves up to a host of be...
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20:49
Bonus: Loving Kindness Meditation
In this bonus episode, I read Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's version of the loving kindness meditation which comes from his book How to Love. You can listen to my full episode about practicing kindness
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8:38
Ep 107: Nice or Kind?
Believe it or not, there is a significant difference between being nice and being kind. Kindness comes from a place of genuine compassion and respect, while niceness often stems from a desire to please others and avoid conflict, even at the exp...
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12:25